Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So, my Eastern Milk that I got a week or so ago is not eating. Matter of fact, it doesn't even show an interest in food. Even though I was told via the seller that it was eating great! Hah! She (I verified this via probing) was showing lateral skin folds, indicating she was malnurished, dehydrated, or possibly sick, or a combination of. I have ruled out dehydration, and without any fecal matter, I have no way to test for parasites (I'm against treating my animals if they show no reason to). Has anyone here done a cloacal wash to obtain fecal matter from a suspected WC snake? I was able to forcefeed her a fuzzy head. The fuzzy was bit too large to feed it whole. I will need smaller mice. I know the procedure is stressing and esophogeal tearing can be an issue, but I watered the head down pretty well, and gently massaged it down. So rather than force feeding, I wanted to run a couple Q's past those who have dealt with these guys in captivity if thats ok?

Are they known to eat lizards when young? Frogs? I have access to both lizards and frogs (non-toxic species) I ask this because I can use both to try scenting the prey. Or worse comes to worse, I can feed off a couple skinks or tree frogs.

Has anyone here used a pinkie pump on anything larger than a pinky?

I tried the put the snake and prey in a bag with both live and F/T to no avail. I also tried braining the prey.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

Steve

I can't offer you any help in getting your eastern to feed because I have yet to be able to get mine to feed voluntarily. I got mine in late September and like yours, it has shown no interest in feeding. I've tried just about everything I've read here and elsewhere. I can only guess that it's lack of interest could be due to the time of year. I've given up on trying to get him to feed and am now brumating him. I hope that when I bring his temps up in the spring, he will take a washed pinkie. If not, I'll be taking a trip out to where he was collected and releasing him.

Good luck with yours.

I was thinking the same thing about the time of year... I am going to give mine support until I feel it is in good enough shape to brumate. Right now, she just looks too thin and I would like to at least get a couple fecals from her to check for parasites. Wild rodents are pretty nasty animals.. I also understand that disrupting her biorhythm could be harmful, but on the other hand brumating her while she is not in the best shape isn't probably a good idea either. Sigh...

I don't mean to intrude, but if you should decide to let your eastern go, I would be more than willing to work something out with you for it, should it be legal to do so in your area. If not, thats ok too. I would like nothing more but to get an established group going of these guys, as time and vet care is not an issue on my end. Thanks.

Steve

I have a GBK who doesnt eat and i sometimes even have trouble using it with them. Anything larger will be to developed and wont go through. I mix one day old pink with liver cat food which works much better than just pinks because it goes through much easier, hope that helps.

Bfoos nailed it squarely and your easterns will avoid food entirely until the season is more spring like. Meanwhile, the snake burns precious calories at room temp and in spite of its emaciated state, will actaully fare better in a cold room. For now be sure the snake uses the water bowl and plan on a couple months below 60 and no parasite check until spring. I've cooled and rehabbed snakes that were sold in rough condition and they've pulled through very well. Sanitize the cage hardware and isolate the suspect animal until your lab report comes back clean.

Re the pump, I force feed 50-100 hatchlings every year and never pump but use a ton of mouse tails and skink scented pink heads or newborn pinks. I do know that Gerbers chicken is a fine food that can be syringed or pumped into snakes as a rescue or venom farming feeding regimen when the goal is only to get nutrition into an animal.

If your eastern shows fold and the vertebra are obvious, I'd probably pump the snake every couple days for 2 weeks before cooling but it's hard to prescribe treatment w/o seeing the snake.
I think Bean Farm has a selection of hardware for force feeding snakes.....
Good luck with your project, post before and after pics if you get a chance....Jeff

>>So, my Eastern Milk that I got a week or so ago is not eating. Matter of fact, it doesn't even show an interest in food. Even though I was told via the seller that it was eating great! Hah!

How big/old is the snake and what did the seller say it was eating?

I have had several WC easterns and generally get most eating with a little assisting. The only one I have lost was a TINY tiny hatchling someone brought into the pet store that they had found after some flooding and it was all dinged up...so not ideal. ANYWAY.

Tiny hatchlings I start by assisting not quite an inch of a mouse tail. After a month or so it will generally move on to live pinks on its own.

I have a sub adult that was injured in the road (and since healed) that wouldn't eat and was a monster to assist that finally took washed rat newborns live.

I do find that if you can assist feed....get food much of the way into their mouth and then put them in a quiet dark box for half an hour...that they will start eating on their own in a half a dozen meals or so.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny